Are you sure the solution is pie?

Oh my god, the power just came back on. Never leave me again, electricity!

Brief explanation -- an SUV made the electric pole outside our house go crunch. Of course since the power went off around 6pm and just now returned, I completely missed the American Idol finale. I should be glad it's back at all, because at first the power dudes told us we wouldn't have electricity until morning, but honestly, it lasted enough just so that I completely missed the finale. Fail.

Here's hoping I can stay unspoiled until I watch it tomorrow. Hahahaha, I kid, because it will be impossible to remain unspoiled. :( So go ahead and tell me about it in comments and make me jealous that I missed the big showdown between Kris and Adam! Who the hell won, seriously? I'd rather hear it from you than Google Reader.

If anyone sees a place to watch the ep online, lemme know. I might as well watch even if it is all over without me.

My cold did indeed develop and land like a freaking tornado, so I spent most of the day looking like a mouthbreather, flopped over the couch or the bed, reading The Sign of Four. Tomorrow I will dope myself up on various non-drowsy things and get back to the business of real life.

Glee!! I don't know if it has an actual exclamation point in the title, but man, I really enjoyed it, so let's exclamation point it! ( tiny not really spoilery reaction )

I'm the only one cringing over the latest Sherlock Holmes coming soon to a theater near us, right? See above, reading The Sign of Four. But to be very fair, any cinematic version of Sherlock Holmes is pretty much not for me, and any movie version of Watson is, well, let's not discuss it. *clings to Watson*

I should probably get to bed. The head-swimming = a good indicator, right?

I have to see the results show tonight. But this cold that's landed today is making it feel like I am crawling to get to the finish line of 9pm.

But I need to see if ( spoilers for AI top 7 stuffeses )

Frankie is stretched out in a patch of sun, at peace with the world now that the crunch munch once again flows freely around here. Well, freely as in we measure it out carefully (which seems to be working, because he lost another 1/2 pound since the last visit, yay).

All the shots and bloodwork and nail-trimming were taken care of last night, though it was a near thing at the last minute. Mr. Nous has little ability to ignore plaintive cries, and tried to convince me we should give in and feed Frankie not an hour before the appointment. His reasoning was that we'd just have the blood test done another time. My counter-reasoning was along the lines of, "No! Man, you're a chump. I've put up with the mournful cries all day, and by golly, they're drawing blood from that cat and sending it to Texas!" I think it's partly that Mr. Nous is just (a) way nicer than me and (b) horrible at withholding when anyone/thing claims discomfort and (c) clearly going to be the popular parent if we ever do have kids, because he'll be giving them ice cream before dinner and letting them stay up two hours past bedtime.

---

( American Idol -- Top 8 -- scattered and completely biased thoughts )

Frankie is sprawled in the sun, I'm having pumpkin bread for breakfast, and there are three more sleeps until we go away for the weekend. All in all, shaping up to be a pretty good day in the Nous household. I've got to figure out when to fit in a day of running errands, and laundry, and figure out the pet-sitting situation (Mr. Nous is supposed to be on that, but...yes) for Frankie Prime. But I can totally do that in three days! With my hands tied behind my back! Except not, because I need them for driving and cranking the laundry dial.

Oh, and I wrote a bunch of Remus/Ron last night, so I am hoping to beat that deadline and post my damn fic for the challenge today. Of course, most of what I wrote was preamble to the plotty bits, but hey! Words!

I was so sorry to hear about Andy Hallett's death -- so very young, and so incredibly talented! What a terrible thing. I imagine we'll hear from some of the Ats cast about this -- I hope they're dealing with the hurt as best as they can.

To switch to a more hopeful fannish note: I'm going to see if I can catch up on Kings before we head out of town in a few days. There's no way I've missed the squee and buzzing about it, which makes me happy for everyone in love with the show and of course makes me curious about what's up with it. Plus aimeelicious asked if I was going to watch, so there you go.

Is Merlin ever going to show on U.S. television? Do I have to watch it online? Or is it ever going to air on BBC America? I want to jump into that show as well, because I have way too much experience with Arthurian stuff not to be curious. But you know, I'd rather watch it from my couch than from my study.

And I am totally, totally out of the loop on American Idol! First season since s4 when I started watching that that has happened. I guess there have just been some days when I'd rather write or hang out with Mr. Nous, and...bleh. Should I catch up on eps, or just try to jump in right here?

Just caught AI online. It is not a spoiler, I think, to say Ryan looks ridiculously adorable in his tie-less rumpled-shirt three-piece suit outfits. ♥

( the wildcard show, w00t, the *last* of the different group-each-week shows! )

ETA: Whoops! Cleared out random & spoilery bitlets -- sorry!

I've been moping a bit, missing Miss C and my sister since I returned home. I had such a lovely time there, which is certainly the case visiting my sister generally, but this time Miss C and I really bonded.

( in which Miss C is the sweetiest and also bossiest three-year-old to come down the pike <3 <3 <3 )

Since I've been back, I fought off a small cold, had a wonderful lunch with a friend yesterday, and realized that this format of American Idol really doesn't help me get invested in the contestants. I'll try to do a recap post later for this week's group, but geez, when I know most of them are leaving (rather than, with the Top 24 format, most of them continuing on) it's hard to gear up the same level of excitement about individuals. If I like someone, there's a good chance that person will be out of there, so... We'll always have Wild Card night, I guess!

Poor Mr. Nous can't shake this bad cold he has, they're at the end of term so he's grading grading grading his days and nights away, and he's just generally in need of a vacation. There's a small chance we'll actually go away for a few days when he has some time off coming up soon -- cross your fingers for me our Frankie-watching situation with a friend will work out.

How are you all? Sick of winter? Reveling in continuing winter? Drinking hot chocolate? Drinking hot toddies? Tell me what's going down!

( American Idol -- Top 36, Week 1 )

I was just outside, hitting at the ice with a metal thingy. Er, to clear the walk and drive, not just for fun, though I can see how lots of people would do it for fun, boy howdy! My arms are going to fall off in 3...2...1...

As far as American Idol is concerned, man, I can't wait for Hollywood Week. So tonight being the last of the auditions is cause for great celebration! I may make fancy themed drinks, if I can get my car out of my driveway at any point soonish to pick up supplies.

Oh, and ( check out the new girl! some thoughts on the new judge )

Meanwhile, should I watch Hell's Kitchen? I love Gordon Ramsay on both the BBC's and U.S.'s versions of Kitchen Nightmares. But Hell's Kitchen looks so, uh. Yeah. Less about the determined no-holds-barred helping of small restaurant staff, chefs, and owners, and more about extreme denigration of wannabe cooks. Any thoughts from people who've checked out the show?